Hello and welcome to a very special episode of Thoughts While Watching. Today we will be plumbing the depths of my Disney lore. Journey back with me two decades in the past as we uncover… MY WALT DISNEY WORLD ORIGIN STORY.
WE ARE NOT A DISNEY FAMILY
I do not come from a Disney family. I don’t mean this in the pejorative sense; purely the factual one. Yes, my parents did take me to WDW when I was a kid, twice – once when I was 3 or 4, then again when I was 12 alongside my younger brother, aunt, and cousins. We also went to Disney’s California Adventure once when accompanying my mother on a business trip in San Diego (which is how I became one of the privileged few to ride the short-lived and much-maligned Superstar Limo).
In all of the instances, we had a good time. My parents were not there begrudgingly. In the case of the Walt Disney World trips, we were visiting as many families do: as a classic American rite of passage. Our trip to Disneyland was circumstantial; we happened to be in the area with some free time. None of it was ever intended as the launching pad for a family tradition, annual, biannual, or otherwise.
I ALWAYS LOVED A THEME PARK
But I always loved a theme park. And for a long time, I thought that was my love, broadly: theme parks. Including Disney, yes, but not specifically Disney.
My grandmother lived near Six Flags Great Adventure when I was kid, so I went there a fair number of times. And for a long time Busch Gardens Williamsburg was our annual family tradition. We’d go there while at the same time hitting Colonial Williamsburg and sometimes even some Civil War battle sites like Jamestown, which I’m pretty sure why my dad was interest in the area in the first place.
And as much as the history of the area was interesting, I was primarily about those Busch Gardens days. And in fact, in a roundabout way, my Disney obsession is all Busch Gardens’ fault.
THE REGIONAL PARK TO DISNEY PIPELINE
While a freshman in college, my parents informed me they were planning one more family trip to Busch Gardens Williamsburg. We hadn’t been the past couple years, and I was excited to revisit this source of happy memories.
So I did what any hyperfixation-prone ADHD kid with access to the internet would do: I jumped online and began to research. Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever been one to hyperfixate, but the first thing you should know about this frenzied state of fascination is that one resource is never enough. Having blazed through the official BGW website, I was on the hunt for MORE.
Unfortunately at that early-ish point in web history there wasn’t much else to find. A scattered handful of reviews and not much else. But you know what there was a LOT of? Walt Disney World info! And when sneaky little websites on WDW infiltrated my theme park web searches, I took the bait. I started reading Disney trip reports, flashing back to all the times I had pulled out my old Disney foldout maps and read the attraction descriptions… and I was hooked. Getting to WDW someday became my primary obsession.
A DREAM IS A WISH YOUR HEART MAKES
Tragically, there was no reason to believe my dream would come true any time soon. I still had more college ahead of me than behind me, and I worked during breaks. (At Medieval Times, so at least I was still in the theme attractions space?) My pragmatic side set a goal of traveling to Disney as a graduation present… and my dreamer side, well, dreamed.
Which is how, despite having no realistic intention of heading to Orlando any time soon, I sent away for the 2005 vacation planning DVD – called The Happiest Celebration on Earth. My Disney historians may recall that this was the period when Disney was celebrating Disneyland’s 50th anniversary, and for some reason that meant WDW would get a bunch of attractions from parks around the world to… honor that, somehow? I don’t know.
Here are some things I do know: first, I ate up that DVD. Second, I kept that DVD. And third, I am so glad I did, because in so doing I inadvertently preserved a moment in Disney time. Specifically, the moment when I, personally, fell in love with Disney. I wouldn’t make it there for another 3 years, but all it takes is one little spark.
Thus it is my great pleasure to direct your attention to this month’s Thoughts While Watching subject. Lack my foresight to order a planning kit two decades prior? No worries; YouTube will provide. Now we must all ask ourselves one question: does it hold up? Click play so we can find out together!
25 THOUGHTS I HAD WHILE WATCHING THE 2005 WALT DISNEY WORLD PLANNING VIDEO… IN 2025
1. OH RIGHT I FORGOT ALL ABOUT THE HAPPIEST CELEBRATION ON EARTH! I see many variations on this theme in my future…
2. Spaghetti strap camisole, cargo capris, frosty makeup? It’s the ’00s again, baby!
3. Every one of these hosts are infinitely more effective than they have any right to be. On paper they are deeply cringe. In motion, I love them. Is that the nostalgia talking again? Anyway, I think Dave is my favorite.
4. Do you think Luke arrived looking and sounding like ’00s Zac Efron of his own accord, or did Disney specifically request it?
5. The background music is tapping into my nostalgia receptors. I feel like this particular motif might even still be in use at times?
6. Okay, I have zero recollection of Cinderellabrations. Did it even happen? Seriously, not ringing a single bell over here.
7. Oh, paper FastPass, how I miss you.
8. Lol at hyping Stitch’s Great Escape. Brand new!!!
9. I remember Magic Kingdom Extra Magic Hours when the park closed at 3am. Those were the days.
10. Ahhh, IllumiNations!!! I’m not sold on LuminoUS but admittedly I’ve only seen it once from Topolino’s… maybe it’s better from the lagoon? But the IllumiNations music is iconic.
11. Sorcerer Hat sighting! Man, people hated that thing.
12. BRING. BACK. STREETMOSPHERE.
13. I also remember when the WDW Marathon went through the Richard Petty Driving Experience. I’m not old; I’m rich in Disney experience.
14. BRING. BACK. DISNEY’S MAGICAL EXPRESS. Seriously. How has this not happened already? Talking to you, Bob. Bob? Hello, Bob? Sometimes I feel like you’re not even listening to me.
15. Nahtazu is nahtagudslogan.
16. Oh yeah, forgot that Disney’s Animal Kingdom had a parade too. This is why I keep having to go back; poor retention.
17. It remains a great regret of mine that I never made it to the Adventurer’s Club at Disney Springs. But I’m glad they dropped the constant New Year’s Eve thing.
18. Petition to enter “That’s MY bench, Dave” into the Disney lexicon.
19. Boy, the resort rooms used to be much uglier.
20. If I were majoring in economics, I’d write a paper on inflation using Walt Disney World vacations as a case study.
21. “Wishes” being “What’s New” is a Feeling.
22. I like how in pre-Everest DAK they’re pushing Kali River Rapids as a tremendous thrill ride.
23. HOLD UP. When did DAK have kangaroos?
24. Here’s a fun game – count the number of Downtown Disney locations that persist in Disney Springs today. You can play it on the Boardwalk too!
25. Oh, hey, I do remember having to call in to make your dining reservations. Those weren’t the days.
AH, THOSE DISNEY FEELS
Okay, I’ll admit it: I loved all of that. Yeah, parts of it were a bit dated and contrived, but I found it all oddly charming. Perhaps this comes from wearing the rosy lenses of nostalgia. You can’t blame me for that – a strong sense of nostalgia is what binds all us Disney people together. If nothing else, our Venn diagrams overlap there.
I also have the Year of a Million Dreams planning DVD from a few years later. I’m sure I’ll get around to rewatching that one too, although as I recall it doesn’t have nearly the personality of this wacky mid-noughties version. It is curious to think how each of these planning kits freezes Walt Disney World in time. I wonder what the kids of 2045 will think of today’s Disney media?
Don’t forget, you can follow FRoA on Threads @fairestrunofall and on Instagram @fairestrunofall. If you have any questions or thoughts, leave a comment or email fairestrunofall@gmail.com. See ya real soon!
Thoughts I had while reading your thoughts:
2005 wasn’t THAT long ago why does everything look so old?? Am I old now?
Girl DAK still has kangaroos!! They’re on the Tree of Life trail. Hugely underrated part of Animal Kingdom.
Holy smokes WE MUST GO SEE THE KANGAROOS